This is the harrowing but triumphant story of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, leader of the Liberian women's movement, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the first democratically elected female president in African history.

5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening

By
Jean
on
04-28-17

The House at Sugar Beach

A Memoir

By:
Helene Cooper

Narrated by:
Helene Cooper

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
215

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
109

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
107

At once a deeply personal memoir and an examination of a violent and stratified country,
The House at Sugar Beach tells of tragedy, forgiveness, and transcendence with unflinching honesty and a survivor's gentle humor. And at its heart, it is a story of Helene Cooper's long voyage home.

2 out of 5 stars

Can't recommend it

By
Taryn
on
03-25-16

The Mother of Black Hollywood

A Memoir

By:
Jenifer Lewis

Narrated by:
Jenifer Lewis

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
2,065

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,868

Story

5 out of 5 stars
1,862

Jenifer Lewis keeps it real in this provocative and touching memoir by a Midwestern girl with a dream whose journey from poverty to Hollywood will move, shock, and inspire listeners. Told in the audacious voice her fans adore, Jenifer describes a road to fame made treacherous by dysfunction and undiagnosed mental illness, including a sex addiction. Yet, supported by loving friends and strengthened by "inner soldiers", Jenifer never stopped entertaining and creating.

5 out of 5 stars

Brutally honest memoir!

By
D. Easter
on
11-14-17

A Colony in a Nation

By:
Chris Hayes

Narrated by:
Chris Hayes

Length: 5 hrs

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
958

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
871

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
865

Emmy Award-winning news anchor and
New York Times best-selling author Chris Hayes argues that there are really two Americas: a Colony and a Nation. America likes to tell itself that it inhabits a postracial world, but nearly every empirical measure - wealth, unemployment, incarceration, school segregation - reveals that racial inequality hasn't improved since 1968.

5 out of 5 stars

So much to this book!

By
Crystal Broadnax
on
04-18-17

Love, Africa

A Memoir of Romance, War, and Survival

By:
Jeffrey Gettleman

Narrated by:
Charlie Thurston

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
121

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
107

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
110

A seasoned war correspondent, Jeffrey Gettleman has covered every major conflict over the past 20 years, from Afghanistan to Iraq to the Congo. For the past decade, he has served as the East Africa bureau chief for the
New York Times, fulfilling his teenage dream of living in Africa.
Love, Africa is the story of how he got there - and of his difficult, winding path toward becoming a good reporter and a better man.

5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book!!!

By
Benjamin
on
05-26-17

Long Walk to Freedom

The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

By:
Nelson Mandela

Narrated by:
Michael Boatman

Length: 27 hrs and 44 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,433

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,291

Story

5 out of 5 stars
1,284

Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. Since his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela has been at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world.

4 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly honest autobiography.

By
History
on
11-17-11

Madame President

The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

By:
Helene Cooper

Narrated by:
Marlene Cooper Vasilic

Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
89

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
87

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
86

This is the harrowing but triumphant story of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, leader of the Liberian women's movement, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the first democratically elected female president in African history.

5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening

By
Jean
on
04-28-17

The House at Sugar Beach

A Memoir

By:
Helene Cooper

Narrated by:
Helene Cooper

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
215

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
109

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
107

At once a deeply personal memoir and an examination of a violent and stratified country,
The House at Sugar Beach tells of tragedy, forgiveness, and transcendence with unflinching honesty and a survivor's gentle humor. And at its heart, it is a story of Helene Cooper's long voyage home.

2 out of 5 stars

Can't recommend it

By
Taryn
on
03-25-16

The Mother of Black Hollywood

A Memoir

By:
Jenifer Lewis

Narrated by:
Jenifer Lewis

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
2,065

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,868

Story

5 out of 5 stars
1,862

Jenifer Lewis keeps it real in this provocative and touching memoir by a Midwestern girl with a dream whose journey from poverty to Hollywood will move, shock, and inspire listeners. Told in the audacious voice her fans adore, Jenifer describes a road to fame made treacherous by dysfunction and undiagnosed mental illness, including a sex addiction. Yet, supported by loving friends and strengthened by "inner soldiers", Jenifer never stopped entertaining and creating.

5 out of 5 stars

Brutally honest memoir!

By
D. Easter
on
11-14-17

A Colony in a Nation

By:
Chris Hayes

Narrated by:
Chris Hayes

Length: 5 hrs

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
958

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
871

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
865

Emmy Award-winning news anchor and
New York Times best-selling author Chris Hayes argues that there are really two Americas: a Colony and a Nation. America likes to tell itself that it inhabits a postracial world, but nearly every empirical measure - wealth, unemployment, incarceration, school segregation - reveals that racial inequality hasn't improved since 1968.

5 out of 5 stars

So much to this book!

By
Crystal Broadnax
on
04-18-17

Love, Africa

A Memoir of Romance, War, and Survival

By:
Jeffrey Gettleman

Narrated by:
Charlie Thurston

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
121

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
107

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
110

A seasoned war correspondent, Jeffrey Gettleman has covered every major conflict over the past 20 years, from Afghanistan to Iraq to the Congo. For the past decade, he has served as the East Africa bureau chief for the
New York Times, fulfilling his teenage dream of living in Africa.
Love, Africa is the story of how he got there - and of his difficult, winding path toward becoming a good reporter and a better man.

5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book!!!

By
Benjamin
on
05-26-17

Long Walk to Freedom

The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

By:
Nelson Mandela

Narrated by:
Michael Boatman

Length: 27 hrs and 44 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,433

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,291

Story

5 out of 5 stars
1,284

Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. Since his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela has been at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world.

4 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly honest autobiography.

By
History
on
11-17-11

Defining Moments in Black History

Reading Between the Lies

By:
Dick Gregory

Narrated by:
James Shippy

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
683

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
587

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
582

With his trademark acerbic wit, incisive humor, and infectious paranoia, one of our foremost comedians and most politically engaged civil rights activists looks back at 100 key events from the complicated history of black America.
Defining Moments in Black History is an essential, no-holds-bar history lesson that will provoke, enlighten, and entertain.

5 out of 5 stars

Baba Gregory is an Awesome Teacher

By
Terrance
on
11-01-17

This Is Just My Face

Try Not to Stare

By:
Gabourey Sidibe

Narrated by:
Gabourey Sidibe

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,772

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,626

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,625

Gabourey Sidibe - "Gabby" to her legion of fans - skyrocketed to international fame in 2009 when she played the leading role in Lee Daniels' acclaimed movie Precious. In This Is Just My Face, she shares a one-of-a-kind life story in a voice as fresh and challenging as many of the unique characters she's played onscreen. With full-throttle honesty, Sidibe paints her Bed-Stuy/Harlem family life with a polygamous father and a gifted mother who supports her two children by singing in the subway.

5 out of 5 stars

Honest, heart wrenching, and hilarious!

By
CleverLewis
on
05-16-17

Kaffir Boy

The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa

By:
Mark Mathabane

Narrated by:
Mark Mathabane

Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
193

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
160

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
169

Mark Mathabane was weaned on devastating poverty and schooled in the cruel streets of South Africa’s most desperate ghetto, where bloody gang wars and midnight police raids were his rites of passage. Like every other child born in the hopelessness of apartheid, he learned to measure his life in days, not years. Yet Mark Mathabane, armed only with the courage of his family and a hard-won education, raised himself up from the squalor and humiliation to win a scholarship to an American university.

4 out of 5 stars

Tragic yet we'll written

By
ARM
on
10-07-16

Rabbit

The Autobiography of Ms. Pat

By:
Patricia Williams,
Jeannine Amber

Narrated by:
Patricia Williams

Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
1,146

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,061

Story

5 out of 5 stars
1,060

One of five children, Pat watched as her alcoholic mother struggled to get by on charity, cons, and petty crimes. At age seven, Pat was taught to roll drunks for money. At 12, she was targeted for sex by a man eight years her senior; by 13, she was pregnant. By 15, Pat was a mother of two. Alone at 16, Pat was determined to make a better life for her children. But with no job skills and an eighth-grade education, her options were limited. She learned quickly that hustling and humor were the only tools she had to survive.

5 out of 5 stars

AMAZING!!!!

By
Anonymous User
on
09-01-17

Never Caught

By:
Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Narrated by:
Robin Miles

Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
251

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
224

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
223

When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation's capital. In setting up his household, he took Tobias Lear, his celebrated secretary, and eight slaves, including Ona Judge, about which little has been written. As he grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn't get his arms around: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Washington decided to circumvent the law.

5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful audiobook

By
Brad Turner
on
03-07-17

The Thing Around Your Neck

By:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Narrated by:
Adjoa Andoh

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
71

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
67

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
66

In her most intimate and seamlessly crafted work to date, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie turns her penetrating eye on America in 12 dazzling stories that explore the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States.

5 out of 5 stars

Superb

By
V. McDonald-Hobbs
on
12-11-17

No Higher Honor

A Memoir of My Years in Washington

By:
Condoleezza Rice

Narrated by:
Condoleezza Rice

Length: 28 hrs and 26 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
436

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
385

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
386

A native of Birmingham, Alabama who overcame the racism of the Civil Rights era to become a brilliant academic and expert on foreign affairs, Rice distinguished herself as an advisor to George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign. Once Bush was elected, she served as his chief adviser on national-security issues – a job whose duties included harmonizing the relationship between the Secretaries of State and Defense.

4 out of 5 stars

Facinating stories from inside Bush's White House

By
J. Chronowski
on
11-04-11

Food: A Cultural Culinary History

By:
The Great Courses

Narrated by:
Professor Ken Albala Ph.D. Columbia University

Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
2,217

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,998

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,970

Eating is an indispensable human activity. As a result, whether we realize it or not, the drive to obtain food has been a major catalyst across all of history, from prehistoric times to the present. Epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said it best: "Gastronomy governs the whole life of man."

5 out of 5 stars

One of my top 3 favorite courses!

By
Jessica
on
12-28-13

The New Jim Crow

Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

By:
Michelle Alexander

Narrated by:
Karen Chilton

Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
5,189

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
4,626

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
4,601

In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. Yet, as legal star Michelle Alexander reveals, today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against convicted criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans.

5 out of 5 stars

An essential read. A horrifying reality.

By
Jeremy
on
04-28-12

Mississippi in Africa

The Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia Today

By:
Alan Huffman

Narrated by:
Andrew L. Barnes

Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
17

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
17

Story

4 out of 5 stars
17

The gripping story of 200 freed Mississippi slaves who sailed to Liberia to build a new colony - where the colonists' repression of the native tribes would beget a tragic cycle of violence. When a wealthy Mississippi cotton planter named Isaac Ross died in 1836, his will decreed that his plantation, Prospect Hill, should be liquidated and the proceeds from the sale be used to pay for his slaves' passage to the newly established colony of Liberia in western Africa.

5 out of 5 stars

Great listen!!!!

By
ayodele higgs
on
03-04-15

A Long Way Gone

Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

By:
Ishmael Beah

Narrated by:
Ishmael Beah

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
833

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
744

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
744

This is how wars are fought now by children, hopped up on drugs, and wielding AK-47s. In the more than 50 violent conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But it is rare to find a first-person account from someone who endured this hell and survived. In
A Long Way Gone, Beah, now 26 years old, tells a riveting story in his own words: how, at the age of 12, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence.

5 out of 5 stars

Author's voice

By
B. Bunt
on
11-01-13

Binti

By:
Nnedi Okorafor

Narrated by:
Robin Miles

Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,076

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,004

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,006

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares.

4 out of 5 stars

Messages

By
khaalidah
on
10-07-15

Publisher's Summary

The first elected woman president of an African country, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was also listed as one of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes. This evocative memoir recounts Sirleaf ’s childhood upbringing and rise to political power in Liberia. More than a simple biography, Sirleaf ’s account details how she stood firm in the face of physical abuse early in life and carried that strength over into her career as a young economist in Samuel Doe’s regime.

Critic Reviews

"This timely book, essential for anyone who hopes to understand West Africa in general and Liberia in particular, is a lesson in courage and perseverance. I finished it hoping that the rest of Africa's troubled nations will find their own versions of 'Mama Sirleaf.'" (
The Washington Post)

What a powerfully strong woman!

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is an amazing woman who continues to provide an absolutely message by living a incredible life. She overcame such challenging situations and demonstrated the impact of following your passion and remaining steadfast to your beliefs. Outstanding listen.

What a life this woman has led!

What did you love best about This Child Will Be Great?

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has led an incredible life! James Bond doesn't come close! With a Master's Degree from Harvard, she left a cushy high-dollar job in America to tangle with the dictators in her home country of Liberia and ultimately become the first (freely-elected) woman head of an African state. What a story!

What was one of the most memorable moments of This Child Will Be Great?

When she was in a Liberian prison for defying the dictator and the guards threw a naked gang-raped girl into the cell with her. So this is what African dictatorships are like!